page_title: Gofraid mac Fergusa
section_title: Traditional genealogical figure
hierarchical_section_title: Gofraid mac Fergusa / Traditional genealogical figure
caption_attribution_description: English: An excerpt from folio 25v of National Library of Ireland MS G 2 (the Ó Cianáin Miscellany).
context_page_description: Gofraid mac Fergusa is an alleged ninth-century figure attested by the Annals of the Four Masters and various pedigrees concerning the ancestors of Clann Somhairle and Clann Domhnaill. If the pedigrees are to be believed, he was a son of Fergus mac Eirc, and a descendant of Colla Uais. Likewise, the two annal-entries that note Gofraid mac Fergusa claim that he was an Airgíallan ruler, who aided Cináed mac Ailpín in 835, and died sixteen years later as a ruler of the Isles. Gofraid mac Fergusa's place in the aforesaid pedigrees is chronologically impossible. The events associated with him by the annals are not supported by any contemporary or near contemporary source. In fact, the two annal-entries that recount these alleged events are fabricated additions inserted into the chronicle at some point before the mid seventeenth century.
  As a genealogical construct, Gofraid mac Fergusa may represent Clann Somhairle's matrilineal descent from Gofraid Crobán. The latter was the eponym of the Crovan dynasty, a family from which Clann Somhairle dynasts derived their claims to the kingship of the Isles. Both kindreds vied for control of the Isles in the twelfth- and thirteenth centuries.
context_section_description: There are over a dozen sources dating from at least the eighteenth century which outline the traditional ancestry of Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, eponymous ancestor of Clann Somhairle, a mediaeval kindred composed of three main branches: Clann Dubhghaill, Clann Ruaidhrí, and Clann Domhnaill. The earliest source relating to Somairle's ancestry is a pedigree which seems to date to the fourteenth century. Although these sources vary in outlining Somairle's ancestry, many of them refer to a certain Gofraid mac Fergusa (Gofraid, son of Fergus). This man's father, Fergus, is generally presented by these pedigrees as the son of a man named Erc, indicating that this Fergus represents the fifth-century Fergus mac Eirc, a legendary King of Dál Riata. The aforesaid sources generally continue on for several generations reaching to Colla Uais, a legendary Irish king, and traditional ancestor of the Uí Macc Uais lineage of the Airgíalla.
  The number of generations between Somairle, Fergus mac Eirc, and Colla Uais are far too few to represent an accurate genealogy, suggesting that the latter two legendary figures were inserted into the lineage. In fact, Somairle's ancestry can only be corroborated as far back as his grandfather. The generations separating this man's father from Gofraid mac Fergusa vary considerably and contain unusual names. Besides Somairle's father and grandfather, the only figures that can be otherwise attested outside of these traditional pedigrees are Colla Uais (and Colla Uais' immediate descendants), Fergus mac Eirc, and Gofraid mac Fergusa.
caption: Excerpt from folio 25v of National Library of Ireland G 2 (the Ó Cianáin Miscellany), the earliest source to note Gofraid mac Fergusa.[2][note 1]
exif: {}